


Hidden Attraction

by AnonEhouse



Category: Avengers (Comic)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Identity Porn, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-11
Updated: 2012-03-11
Packaged: 2017-11-01 19:38:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/360479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonEhouse/pseuds/AnonEhouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes villains understand heroes better than either side is willing to admit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hidden Attraction

(If you are reading this on any PAY site this is a STOLEN WORK, the author has NOT Given Permission for it to be here. If you're paying to read it, you're being cheated too because you can read it on Archiveofourown for FREE.)

Steve looked up and instinctively braced himself, shield held high, as if that would stop the diner- the whole shining steel diner, plumbing and wires dangling from the torn up bottom- that was descending on him. He was trapped in a corner, metal walls on both sides, no way out. He had a moment to be glad that Jan and Hank had got the customers to safety before Magneto sent it flying his way.

And then a familiar flash of red and gold slammed into the side of the diner, turning it over and over in the air, cartwheeling, pieces flying, the grating, grinding scream of tearing metal drowning out everything. Ears ringing in the comparative silence following the crash, he ran towards the figure lying on the buckled pavement in front of the crumpled diner, half-hidden under curved pieces of steel. "Iron Man, are you all right?"

One red gauntlet rose a few inches. Iron Man's voice sounded more static than words, but was clear enough to understand. Steve had plenty of practice listening to him in all moods and battle conditions. "Fine. Go... Cap." There was a hint of wry humor, but that didn't really reassure Steve. Iron Man wasn't the robot he pretended to be. "I'll... dig out and join you later."

Steve hesitated, but there were civilians in the line of fire. And it wasn't as if he could do much for Iron Man. Stark took care of his bodyguard's armor. "Right!"

Mjollnir refused to obey Magneto, which distracted and infuriated him enough for Jan to get in close with her wasp stings and while he was flailing at her and at the ants Hank had sent to climb up inside his clothes, Hank turned giant and wrapped a hardware store's opening day banner around his arms, pinning them to his sides. Cap yanked off Magneto's helmet and punched him, not as hard as he wanted, but hard enough to shut him up and make him stop fighting. Thor reclaimed his hammer and then picked Magneto up by the back of his cape and shook him.

Hulk landed with his usual earth-shaking thud and growled at Magneto. "Purple man bad!"

"Hulk, go help Iron Man." Cap didn't really want Hulk squashing Magneto. That would be infringing on the X-Men's prerogative and Steve didn't need to add hero infighting to his battles. Civil wars were the worst. 

They all trooped over, dragging Magneto over the rubble to the diner. Hulk cheerfully pulled diner chunks off Iron Man, then grabbed him and set him on his feet. "Fly. Hulk likes to watch."

"Sor...ry. No... can do." Iron Man fell, twisting at the last moment to land on his back. "You... all... go. I'll... just lie here. A while."

"Don't be ridiculous." Steve knelt beside Iron Man. "Hulk can carry you." He really didn't like the look of things. Iron Man's chest plate had taken a direct hit, shattering the part Cap had always thought of as the big battery. "We'll go home and Stark will fix you right up."

Iron Man laughed. His left hand came up, waving aimlessly a moment before it landed on Cap's arm, with surprising gentleness for something encased in metal. "Stark can't... fix this. Sorry." Blue eyes, very human and very tired, looked directly, unblinkingly, at Steve through the mask. 

"Then a hospital." Steve kept his voice calm. He wasn't going to break down. He'd lost men before. He'd lost friends. He'd lost Bucky. Why should it be any harder to lose a man he'd never really met? His thoughts kept.. flickering, like a snapped movie reel, flashes of memories of a brave man who mocked his own courage. Of a man who'd sat up through countless nights in the mansion's library, keeping Steve's ghosts at bay with his undemanding company. There was a connection between them, an easiness he felt with no one else. More than an ease. He could admit that to himself now.

"Die a little quicker if you... move me. Shrapnel. Near my heart. Feel it moving now. Cap..." Iron Man moved his fingers. "Take off... my gauntlet. Like to... shake your hand goodbye."

"No." Steve put his hands at the clasps holding Iron Man's helmet to his armor. "Not that."

"Don't. I want to be... buried in it. Iron Man. Not..."

"Don't you have family? Friends? People who'll miss... the real you. You can't do that to them." Steve was relentless.

The blue eyes shuttered behind the mask. "Just... the Avengers." Iron Man sighed softly. "All right, Steve. I'm... a coward. Go ahead."

Steve worked the clasps loose and pulled off the helmet, one hand going underneath to keep the man's head from falling onto the broken pavement. Softly he said, "Tony. You were never a coward."

Tony Stark looked up at Steve. "You knew?"

"You really didn't hide it that well. Your eyes are the same." Steve leaned down until his mouth was hovering over Tony's. "Will you let me say goodbye?"

Tony blinked. He whispered, "Yes." 

Steve kissed him softly, unashamed of the hot tears that spilled onto Tony's dust-covered face. He lay Tony's head back carefully on the ground and knelt beside him as his team surrounded them, even the Hulk remaining silent while Tony's breathing stuttered, ragged. His eyes stayed locked with Steve's.

Magneto cleared his throat. In an instant Steve was up on his feet, whirled to face him, with his shield ready to throw. "Don't. Don't you say one damn smug, gloating word." Steve shook with the desire to smash Magneto into a bloody pulp. "Or I might forget I don't kill prisoners."

"I can help." There was something odd in Magneto's expression, nothing like the fury he'd shown while fighting them, nothing like the hate he had for the entire human race. If Steve was capable of thinking clearly at the moment, he'd almost call it sympathy. "Shrapnel is steel."

Steve caught his breath, fighting back an unreasonable surge of hope. "And the price?" He knew what the price would be. And he couldn't pay it. He couldn't let Magneto go, couldn't weigh one man's life against so many others. 

Magneto shook his head. "It was paid... a long time ago."

Steve hesitated. "You could kill him. Even if you didn't mean to do it."

"Yes." Magneto met Steve's eyes, unflinchingly. "I can get the steel out. I can't control what it will destroy on the way."

Tony made a soft noise, and Steve turned back to him. "Hey," Tony said. "I'm... feeling lucky today. Give the guy... a chance."

"Tony." Steve didn't know what to say so he said something stupid, to give Tony an opening for a smart comeback. "It'll hurt."

And of course, perversely Tony didn't take it. "Yeah. Wish I had a drink." Tony smiled. "Let's do it, Cap."

Steve nodded and waved to Thor. "Let him go." He glanced at the others, Jan and Hank and Bruce- apparently the Hulk couldn't stay angry at the same time he was sad. "Go and see if you can get an ambulance through." They left without a word.

Thor frowned, but ripped the banner off Magneto. Putting one large hand at the back of Magneto's neck he growled, "Take care, villain." Then he pushed Magneto forward. "I have given no oath to spare perfidious captives." 

"I never rely on oaths." Magneto strode over to Tony. "Only the weak need do that." He gestured dramatically. The cracks in the Iron Man armor quivered and then split, peeling back to expose Tony's chest, shock pale and ridged with scar tissue.

"No!" Tony crossed his still armored arms in front of his chest, palms turned outward defensively. He lunged at Magneto before falling back and flailing around.

"Tony! Stop!" Steve dropped his shield and pushed Tony down. "You have to lie still!"

"I can't. Habit."

Steve could see Tony's pulse racing in his throat, every beat loosening the shrapnel. This wasn't habit, this was unreasoning panic. "I'll hold you. Try to stay calm." Steve pulled Tony against his chest, wrapping one arm across Tony's shoulders and the other around his waist. "I've got you. I won't let you go."

Tony shuddered once more, and stopped fighting, letting his arms go down to his sides. He turned and pressed his face against Steve's shoulder, eyes tightly shut. "Do it."

Magneto didn't wait for the order. He stretched out his hands. Tony screamed. Bits of bloody metal erupted from Tony's chest in a hazy cloud, falling to the ground before it reached Magneto. The blood didn't stop pouring out. Tony went limp against Steve.

Steve held Tony tightly. "Don't do this to me. Not now, Tony." Hands pushed at Steve and he resisted for a moment, before looking up to see a slight, blond man. Thor was nowhere in sight. Neither was Magneto, which Steve noted at the back of his mind in an 'oh, hell, have to go get him again', way.

"Don Blake. I'm a doctor," the man said. He opened a black bag and pulled things out of it. "I need to tie off that bleeder. Hold him still."

Steve tightened his grip. "Where did you come from?"

Blake did something Steve couldn't really see, and frankly was just as glad not to. The blood flow slowed. "Asgard, originally." Blake looked up at Steve and grinned. "I think he'll make it." Then he turned serious. "I'm sorry I had to let Magneto go."

Steve shrugged. The live warmth of Tony's back against his belly made everything else seem unimportant, although he was wondering in a vague way how the heck Thor fit inside a Don Blake shaped secret identity. Magic, he supposed. Tony hated magic. Tony hates magic. Tony will live to hate magic. Steve smiled and rested his chin on Tony's head. He heard an ambulance siren nearing. "Sometimes you have to let things go."

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to my Partner in Crime who seduced me with a link to an Ironman video, which led to 3 weeks of obsessive IronMan/Captain America fic-reading, purchase & multiple rewatching of the 2 Ironman DVDs (with the extras, I splurged!) and the loss of 5 pounds due to this obsession taking precedence over getting food (which, whoa, that's better than a year of yoga has done for me. IRON MAN fic as a diet aid!)
> 
> Also note, I didn't really know what Magneto meant about a debt until PIC pointed out that Cap had been fighting Nazis. OF COURSE. I thought it was just because Magneto saw himself and Prof. X in Cap and Iron Man. That probably figured into it. Magneto is a complex person. He's got layers, like an onion. Or a torte. A really nice torte.


End file.
